


Night Terrors

by xx_AllMightFucker_xx



Category: Naruto
Genre: Accidental Confession, Dreaming, Fluff and Angst, Love Confessions, M/M, Nightmares, Phone Calls & Telephones, and i lost my shit, i read that there are phones in naruto, specifically shikamaru said there was, theyre in their 30s...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 07:16:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18245006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xx_AllMightFucker_xx/pseuds/xx_AllMightFucker_xx
Summary: After a long, long day at work,  the house is quiet and asleep. Naruto sneaks into bed expecting  a nice night of rest. Instead, he is taken through a nightmare about an old friend of his, prompting him to grow hasty and say things he may regret.





	Night Terrors

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, so there telephones in Naruto? What?  
> "Sasuke" says fuck. But only once. He did that in canon too tho...naughty :(

He peered through the curtains of the windows and saw no movement. A sigh escaped his breath. At this time of night, it would be better off if Hinata and the kids weren't awake. Undoubtedly, he would receive quiet a scolding.  
  
Naruto's hands dug through his pockets as he searched amongst other things, Kunai, scrolls, and finally, his house keys. Twisting and opening the door, a heavy scent of something freshly made, warm and doughy, immediately found its way to his senses. He took off his shoes and closed the front door.  
  
Home Again.  
  
As expected, the household was quiet and asleep, from what he could sense. Nothing but the dull light of the kitchen overhead fan helped him find his way, and careful not to step on any of Himawari's toys she had always left scattered on the ground, he crept to what he could find to be the source of that warm, familiar and kind smell that was lying in the woven basket on the kitchen counter.  
  
Taiyaki.  
  
Naruto smiled as he held the fish shaped bread under the overhead light, admiring the browning and inhaling deeply, before taking a bite. Another, and another, until he found himself empty handed. Picking up another taiyaki, he practically inhaled the sweets, not realizing how hungry he really was.  
  
 The scent followed throughout the entire house, Naruto noticed, along with the loud snores coming from Boruto's room, he exhaled out his nose softly in amusement as he closed the boys room door, slightly muting the sounds.  
  
Too tired to truly even wash his face, Naruto dragged himself into his bedroom, closed the door and sighed as a very slight smile found its way onto his face.  
  
Almost like a fairy tale of a princess story, Hinata lay there on the bed asleep, on her side, one gentle hand besides her face, another beside her stomach. Her lips slightly agape, the sound of her breaths were faint, along with the moonlight that shone through the open window curtains, and lightly caressed her face to illuminate her features, even in the dark, she was beautiful

Naruto stripped to his undershirt and briefs, and tucked himself underneath the sheets, too tired to change out of his clothes and into anything else. He would be sure to apologize to Hinata later if she found it necessary to bring up in conversation. For now, however, he enjoyed the feeling on his body sinking into the mattress, and his head onto the soft knitted pillow case. He couldn't help but exhale in relief as his muscles released from the tension and his spine realigned itself.

Being the hokage was nothing but tough work, but for now, he would allow these eight hours of rest to overcome him. For now, he would let himself succumb to the slumber that he gladly gave himself up to, as he drifted into sleep.

* * *

 

It was dark, so that he couldn't see where he was, but he knew somehow, that he was in a very, small and cramped room. His feet were bare, and, in fact, all of him was, all of him was also at a loss of stamina and chakra.

Observing, with what little strength he could gather, he felt a very familiar aura emanating from the other end of the room. Dense and thick, the chakra seemed to slowly eat at what little air there was left in the room. Eating slowly away, slowly...slowly...

Naruto’s eyes widened as he came to the realization of what was happening.

He tried to cut his breathing off, conserve air. Yet for some reason, he instead took in bigger breaths. Hyperventilating against his will, as he tried to grab onto surfaces, feeling, searching for anything to stabilize himself on. There was nothing, which increased his anxiety of the situation. The room was small, but there were no walls that he could feel.

His knees buckled, almost falling over himself.

A figure in front of him revealed itself. Whipping his head around, Naruto attempted to see through widened eyes the source of the dense chakra that was eating at the air.

His heart rate increased tenfold.

“Sasuke?” he asked, shaken to the core, his body began to tremor, but the name sounded less like a question, and more like relief.

“Naruto.” the figure responded gently and smooth, as it kneeled in the liquid that covered the ground, before sending waves of chakra through it.

Naruto doubled over as the shock of pure pain made its way through what seemed to be water at his feet. He cried out as his breath quickened.

 _What was that?_ His brain could barely form the thought before another, quick shot of pure, bright pain pulsed through him, leaving him speechless and gasping for air.

Naruto scratched at his throat, begging silently. For help, his lips formed the name of the hidden figure.

Over and over again, he outstretched his hand to it, which kneeled, preparing itself to blast another round through the now rising water.

 _What is going on? What’s happening?_ He thought, as he tried to calm himself. It was impossible. His brain was oxygen starved.

His eyes became lidded, giving in to the breathless feeling before another, now sharper blast of pain shocked his every cell.

He forced himself to breathe in, only to find himself screaming at the figure.

“Sasuke? Sasuke, _stop!_ What are you doing? Why are you- ** _agh_**!” he gasped, feeling himself fry under the energy once more.

The figure stood still, watching as Naruto began to steadily regain his posture. When he finally came to gather himself, he looked through blurry vision as the figure opened one eye.

The sharingan.

“Naruto,” it spoke, slower and slightly deeper than what Naruto knew to be Sasuke’s true voice. “You’re quiet resilient, aren’t you?”

With those words, the dark, dense chakra began to eat away at the room once more, Naruto shuddered in the feeling of the aura.

“I…” he breathed in. “Well, I try to be.”

“Oh, I know all about your resilience. I know it best out of anyone, don’t I?” The figure chuckled. Naruto raised a brow.

“What are you talking about?”

“There you go, playing dumb again.” it paused. “You know what I’m talking about.” it paused again, perhaps waiting for Naruto’s response. “You know, that despite my request, you spent all your teenage life chasing after me.”

“Oh, that?” Naruto half grinned. “Sasuke, come on, you knew I was never giving up on you from the very start! No matter what, I was going to save you. How many times do I have to tell you that?”

“What are you talking about? I never asked to be saved.”

“And I didn’t really care.” He laughed. “We went through turmoil, hell and back. But,” He took a breath. “After all, you’re happier now, right?”

Silence.

“Sasuke,” Naruto’s heart beat. “You’re happier now, right?”

Silence.

“Oh, whatever, you don’t have to say it, I know you already.”

"Do you?"

The air of the room changed, the chakra that was once dense now felt poisoned, thickening and swallowing the prior tension of the room, replacing it with something that would have told anyone else to run.

“Your definition of happy, Naruto, is not mine.” the figure looked up and into Naruto’s eyes as the room slowly began to be drained of what light hearted joy Naruto had throw it's way. “What you call safety, it’s not what I consider my own. _Your_ wife, _your_ children, _your_ friends, _your_ village, those are things that _you_ created. Those are things that I can’t share with you.”

A beat.

“What,” it continued. “did you think would happen naruto? That you would drag me back to the village, and I would give in to your version of happy? Of content? Is that what you want from me?” the figure raised it's voice, now deep and saturated in hatred, the words struck Naruto like a knife.

“Sasuke,” he swallowed. “I-”

“ ** _Shut_** **_UP_** _!”_ it roared, shaking the room. “Don’t you ever just _shut up_? Can’t you open your fucking eyes, Naruto? Don’t you see I don't want to be here?”

The room now swelled with a feeling of pure hatred, angst and death, devouring the relief that Naruto had placed in seeing the figure, and replacing it with fear. Utter fear as the room’s liquid that once laid stagnant on the ground, now rising and lifting Naruto’s feet off the ground, and with no chakra to sustain himself, he began to go under the icy cold water, along with the figure’s icy cold glare.

Naruto saw what he believed to be Sasuke look at him with such distaste in his eyes.

 _Those eyes_ , he thought, _those are the same eyes he gave me that time. Right before….right before he left-_

He began to struggle now against the raising water enclosure, as it took him in deeper and deeper.

Something, something so obvious had told him, if he doesn't act now, Sasuke would leave again. As weak as he is now. _How Am I supposed to save him like this..._

“Sasuke!” he shouted, water flowing into his mouth. “Sasuke, please, _please_ ! Don’t leave me again!” he cried, though the tears merged with the liquid surrounding him, “I don’t what I would do! Please Sasuke! Please, **Sasuke**!

“Look at you, an old man, still pining after his old friend.”

 **“** **_SASU-_ ** **”**

* * *

 

“-KE!” Naruto shouted in hysteria. He shot up off his pillow drenched in his own sweat, frantically turning his head around to observe his surroundings. Hinata lay still besides him still. Of course.

Home again.

He was breathing heavily, as the terror and realization of what his brain had conjured up flowed back to him as though they were real memories.

Overwhelmed, he raced to the bathroom to release what built up nausea he had. Bending over the toilet, releasing all contents of his stomach, tasting the taiyaki and spitting once more into the bowl before flushing and stumbling backwards onto his behind.

He sat there for a while, trying to build strength. He stood over the sink and stared into the mirror for a while. Not really thinking anything, as it hit him.

“Sasuke…” he breathed out shakily. Running a hand over his face in frustration. It felt like he was going to cry. “ _Hah_.” he sighed, and attempted to bring reason to himself.

No, it's been literal _years_ , Sasuke wouldn’t say things like that. It just didn’t sound like him-

 

_“Don’t leave me again!...I don’t what I would do!”_

 

The words he cried out in a fit of hopelessness rang again in his ears, as though he had ever actually said them. It sent a shiver down his spine, in fact his heart was still racing. He tried to think up things, anything, that could distract him from such a frightening dream:

Hinata’s smile, Shikamaru’s taunts and laziness, Ichiraku ramen, pervy sage’s books,Himiwari’s dance recital, Bushy Brow green attire, Boruto’s messy room, dinner with family-

 

 **_“Your_ ** _wife_ **_, your_ ** _children_ **_, your_ ** _friends_ **_, your_ ** _village, those are things that_ **_you_ ** _created. Those are things that I can’t share with you.”_

 

Naruto audibly groaned in defeat as the fear began to eat at his head again. The same fear he felt when he saw Sasuke’s icy stare from long ago when they're were just children, from his nightmare, began to invade and dig its way into the real world version of himself. Did Sasuke really feel like that? Did he still feel like he wasn't a part of Konoha? After all these years?

_No, it was just a dream. Sasuke doesn’t feel like that still, right?_

“Oh, _God_.”

He couldn’t reach the door fast enough, tripping over himself, sliding on his shoes, grabbing a coat and dashing out the house as if his life depended on it.

If he wasn’t sure, he would have to ask Sasuke himself.

The cool air of the night swept Naruto’s face as he ran alongside buildings to the Hokage Office where the telephone he used to contact the Konoha ninja was. The breeze did nothing to calm his nerves, in fact it only reminded him what time of night it was. If Sasuke were even to be awake at this time, would he even answer? He bit his lip, a bit to hard. Of course he will, he thought.

His heartbeat began to slow when he reached the building, but he was still breathing hard. He looked up to the building before dashing inside.

At this time of night, there wasn’t really anyone there. Mostly the medical team doing private autopsies in the basement, the cryptanalysis team watching out for any emergency birds sending messages on the roof, and ANBU guarding the record library.

So there was no one he would run into, perfec-

“Naruto?”

That voice, it was-

“Shikamaru!” Seeing his second in command relaxed him a bit. “What are you doing here so late?”

“Finishing the tax filing for the village that I told you to do a month ago. I just locked up-”

“Ah, can I borrow the keys to the office? It’s an emergency, ya know!” he bounced his leg.

“Uh, alright.”

“Thanks!” he began to dash off.

“And Naruto!” Shikamaru stopped him. “You have got to get some sleep man, you have dark circles under your eyes.”

“Ah, yeah thanks-”

“And also…”

“What?”

“Put some pants on dude. We can’t have the hokage running around with his undies on. Makes for town gossip.”

However, Naruto wasn’t listening, his heartbeat couldn’t return to normal until he heard _his_ voice. He raced up the stairs, fumbling with the key in the lock, the light switch, and finally the phone.

“Alright, alright.” He pulled out the binder from under the desk, filled with top tier konoha shinobi and their emergency contact.

The sound of the pages slipping through the alphabetized names echoed through the empty office until finally, he saw it. Uchiha.

He picked up the phone receiver, exhaled through his mouth and read off the numbers as he dialed them.

“...3645, alright, come on…” he bounced his leg up and down. As the line on the other end rang.

 

1 ring...

2 rings...

3 rings...

4 rings…

 

_“The number you have reached is not-”_

“DAMMIT!” Naruto slammed the phone down in utter frustration as he grinded his teeth.

_Of course, that dream. It was a bad omen. Sasuke, he really is never coming back to me-_

“No, no, let’s try again…....3645. _Please, Sasuke_.”

 

1 ring…

 

2 rings....

 

3 rings….

 

4 rings….

 

_“The number you have reached is not-”_

 

“No.”

 

**_“You’re quiet resilient, aren’t you?”_ **

 

“One more time…....3645.”

 

1 ring…

 

2 rings....

 

3 rings…

 

4 rings…

.

.

.

“Hello?”

 

Naruto’s hand dropped for a moment as his chest began to pound. His mouth was slightly agape as he sighed in relief. A smile crept onto his face. Third time's the charm after all.

“Sasuke…” he sounded absolutely breathless, in fact he felt tears forming, but nothing else would come out of him besides his heavy breathing.

“...Naruto. What do you want?”

“...”

“Hey, I said what do you need? It’s 3 AM. What is it?”

“...”

“Naruto-”

“I just,” he paused, inhaling normally now. “I just wanted to hear your voice.”

Silence. Naruto was aware that what he said was odd, but ,still, the silence terrified him.

“Sasuke, I mean-”

“It's okay. It’s nice to hear your voice every once and a while too, I suppose.”

Naruto relaxed in his chair. “That’s good to know.”

“Still, why are you calling me at three AM? Are you still in the office?”

“No, I was home, but I-” he cut himself off. That dream, that's what brought him to call Sasuke so early in the morning.

“But you? You what?”

“It’s nothing.”

He heard Sasuke sigh deeply at the other side of the line. “Well, if that’s all you woke me up for, goodbye-”

“Wait!” Naruto shouted, much too loud, probably loud enough a ninja may come to see what's going on. He covered his mouth with his hand.

“Naruto, hurry up and spit it out.”

“I-” Naruto swallowed. Why should he bring up such a stupid thing like that dream now? He reached Sasuke, and Sasuke was talking to him. Wasn’t that good enough? Well, wasn’t it?

“Sasuke, I had this dream.” he paused for a moment. Not really expecting any reply, and he didn’t get one. “Well, it was about me and you.” he bit into his bottom lip. He paused again.

“Okay.”

Naruto continued, heart rate increasing again, sure Sasuke could hear it through the speaker. “You...no...I was in this small cramp and humid room, and it was dark, and I was naked, and you were there too, and...wait no! That doesn’t sound right...Okay, well now it sort of feels stupid to tell you, huh?”

“Just tell me, Naruto” his voice was calming, so unlike the monster that Naruto had conjured up in his head. How could he ever have even thought of Sasuke in that way?

“Long story short I guess, you were trying to kill me again.” he chuckled humorously, with no response from the other. “And you told me.” he swallowed. “Well you told me that you don’t feel like Konoha is your home, that what _I made_ or whatever, isn't what _you_ would call happiness. Or something like that anyway. Really stupid, right?”

The other side of the line went quiet.

“Sasuke?” He strained his ears to listen to the receiver. “That’s not what you think, right?”

“...Naruto. What do you think I’m thinking right now?”

“I, I mean I really don’t know. I hate when you get all quiet on me like that.”

“Use your head. What do you _really_ think I’m thinking right now?”

Naruto pondered for a moment. It was difficult to get into Sasuke’s head. He was a hard cookie if he’d ever seen one, which made it all the more difficult to communicate with him. But if the tone of his voice was anything to go off of...

“I feel like, you think that I’m being really stupid right now.”

“Aren’t you always?”

A strange feeling welled in Naruto’s chest with those words. His eyes grew teary and his breath hitched as he attempted to hold back whatever it was he was holding back, and Sasuke heard it all.

In fact, even if Naruto wasn't so outright, Sasuke probably would have known anyways, wouldn't he? He probably knew from the beginning. Maybe that's why he felt so relaxed as soon as Sasuke picked up the phone. He already knew what Naruto was thinking, just by hearing the silence on the other line of the phone, the breathlessness, his stuttering...

He knew it all.

Knowing that in itself felt better than a good night's rest ever could.

“Relax, Naruto. I’m not going anywhere,” His smooth voice spoke.

_Ah,_

“I’m with you now, aren’t I?”

_Sasuke…_

“Thank you, Sasuke.”

“I’m going to sleep now.”

Naruto sighed with relief. “Okay, goodnight, I love you, bye.”

“What?”

**_What?_ **

“What? Wait, HUH?" He sat up, pausing to realize what he said, his face burning slightly. "Nothing, I didn't say anything, okay bye!” Naruto couldn’t have pressed the phone on the chord fast enough, as his thoughts scrambled around his brain. He dug his fingers through his scalp in confusion. Ruffling his hair in the process as words flew around his head.

_What did I just say? I love you? What? Okay maybe he didn’t hear it. No he definitely heard that. Oh God, oh damn. What did that even mean?_

For the last time that night, Naruto’s heart rate couldn’t have sped up any faster than it just had.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know how japanese answering machines work, but in j-dramas, they're pretty much the same, right?  
> The extension for sasuke's "phone" is the letter to number correlation of the word "LOVE" btw. I mean, L is the 12th letter in the alphabet. 1+2=3 and so on.  
> I wrote this at 3 AM, i'm sorry if it sucks :(


End file.
